


NASA

by DontFightTheGay



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Spoilers, F/F, F/M, Fix-It, I'll keep adding characters as I go, I'm Serious, M/M, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Spoilers, don't read it, if you know you know, kind of, not even just the first chapter until you watch it
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-27
Updated: 2019-08-30
Packaged: 2020-02-07 05:39:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,717
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18614254
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DontFightTheGay/pseuds/DontFightTheGay
Summary: Post-Endgame. A somewhat Fix-It fic to make it so I can live with what happened.Shameless plug but follow my Instagram @dontfightthegay for fic updates and previews thanks!





	1. Introduction

**Author's Note:**

> SO HERE IT IS FELLAS
> 
> I'm pretending they didn't do that to Thor, but I'll try to make it as similar to Endgame as possible while fixing him to the way Taiki had him. Plus, Stucky is Endgame even if it takes however many chapters I'm doing for this thing. 
> 
> If you need someone to scream at about this goddamn movie please write in the comments. It makes me feel special. 
> 
> -k

Bucky looked down at his hoodie. Tony was gone, Natasha was gone, 5 years had passed since he last touched Steve. Steve, who is going to be a goddamn douchebag and go live his life out with Peggy. Bucky knew he wouldn’t stay. At least, not for him. The way he always looked at her, always talked about her, always just her. But he couldn’t fault him. Hell, if he was in that position he would-

But that’s not what happened. Bucky looked up towards Sam and Steve. They’re talking, probably saying goodbye for now. He took a deep breath as Steve walked towards him. Steve could see the pain written on his face. He knew. 

“Buck-”

“No,” Bucky smirked. “You should enjoy it. Take your time.”

Steve smiled softly. “You know I’m with you ‘til the end of the line, right?”

“Yeah, pal, I do.” Bucky sighed. “You better get back here in one piece. I would hate to go back in time to defend your honor against Carter.”

Steve let out a laugh. “Yeah, good luck with that. She’d kick your ass.”

There was a pause. 

“Buck, I got to figure myself out. Self-discover.” Steve looked back to Sam, who was talking with Banner. “It’s been a long time coming. Did you know I ran a group therapy?”

Bucky looked back at his hoodie, hands clenching in his pocket. Steve put a hand on his shoulder. 

“I kept telling these guys to move on, to grow from it. I put on an act for them and now with Nat gone…” Steve’s eyes watered. Bucky knew they were close before but he’d ask Sam or Clint for more details later. “Well, let’s just say I got to move on for the both of us now.”

“And you really think going back and trying the domestic life with Peggy will work out? What about the timelines?”

“I’ll be in an alternate reality.” Steve gestured towards the briefcase. “I’ll hang on to the tesseract and go back to after I crash and see if I could have prevented all this.” Steve griped Bucky’s bicep, the metal flexing under his hand as he continues. “That gives me until 1970 to see if I can handle it or not.”

Bucky scoffs and looks away. “I hate to be the one to break it to you, but you never could run from a fight. You’d give up fighting to create a new family?”  
Steve steps back. “Bucky-”

“No, Steve, I don’t think you can.” Bucky sighs and looks back to Steve, seeing his hurt. “But we shouldn’t part on bad terms. I expect your first kid to be named after me.”

Steve smiled. “Yeah, well, who doesn’t love the name ‘Jerk.’”

Bucky softly punches his shoulder. “Punk.”

Steve pulls Bucky into a hug. “Gonna miss your ugly mug.”

“I won’t. It’ll be only 10 seconds. If I could last 70 years without your punk face I could last another 10 seconds.”

Steve pulls away and starts towards the platform. “Don’t do anything stupid ‘til I get back.”

“How can I?” Bucky tucks his hands back into his pocket. “You’re taking all the stupid with you.”

Steve smiles and looks down before grabbing the briefcase and stepping onto the platform. 

“All set?” Banner says, already pressing buttons on the controls. 

“All set.” Steve picks up Mjolnir and syncs his watch. The red and white suit engages and the helmet clicks shut. Bucky moves over next to Sam, who nudges him with his shoulder. 

“Didn’t see you give each other goodbye kisses.”

Bucky scoffs. “He’s gone for what, 10 seconds? He’ll get his fill tonight when we’re back at Clint’s.”

Sam raises his eyebrow. “So you actually told him?”

“What do you think?” Bucky looks back to Steve. “No I haven’t and I’d appreciate if you don’t meddle. Natalia did enough of that before we dusted.”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah, I was going to tell him before we got attacked. Had a whole plan, too.”

“Well, damn.” Sam sighed. “Guess you got the rest of your lives, huh?”

“Sure.” Bucky clenches his fists again. 

“Alright in 5,” Banner was charging up the controls. “4...3...2...1...launch.”

Steve disappeared and Bucky sighed again. 

“If you sigh one more time, Barnes, I swear it would be like you actually were breathing for 5 years.” Sam smirked.

“Bringing him back in 5...4...3…”

Bucky looked away from the platform. The bench a few yards away looks like the type of place that Steve would like to draw. 

“...and returned!” 

“Banner, where is he?” Sam asks. The bench Bucky was looking at is now occupied with Steve, in that suit. A bag in his hand. 

“I’m trying! He missed his jump or something!” Banner and Sam were still arguing. Steve turned his head, he seemed to age horribly, being old and actually looking like a grandpa. Bucky smirked as his heart broke. 

“Sam,” Bucky turned back towards the two. “You may want to look over here.”

Sam turned towards where Bucky was looking. “Who is he?”

“Go over and find out.” 

Sam moves over towards old Steve. Bucky moves back to lean against a tree. He knows Steve is going to ask Sam to be the new Captain America. Before everything, Steve once asked him to take it over but he had a nice quiet life in Wakanda and he knew Steve just needed to give someone the mantle before he completely lost who he is. Captain America may be the perfect American, but Steve Rogers was far from it. It was killing him. Hopefully those years with Peggy did some good. 

 

Sam looked over to him now, just touching the shield. Bucky nodded and smiled. Sam was a much better choice for Captain America. He could handle it much better than anyone else. Sam was walking towards him now, with the shield attached to his arm.

“He wants to talk to you.” 

Bucky nods slowly and starts walking towards the bench. Steve looks back to him. 

“Hey, Buck.”

Bucky sits down and refuses to look at him. “When I said that you’re taking all the stupid with you, I didn’t mean it literally.”

“Don’t worry too hard about it.” Old Steve looks down at his watch. “I have about another half hour before I come back to you.”

Bucky finally looks towards him in confusion. “What?” 

Steve smiles, the weathered lines in his face telling a story of happiness and pain. “I’m from your future. To make sure we set everything up for the real timeline I had to come back and pass on the mantle.”

“But it’s been 70 years, give or take.”

“Buck, you’re supposed to be the science guy out of the two of us.” Steve looks out onto the lake. “Our genetics allow our bodies to regrow dead cells. I’ve lived 384 years, Buck.”

Bucky was speechless. 

“I don’t know how much I’m supposed to say, but I promised you that before I go, I’d see you one last time.”

“What do you mean ‘one last time?’”

“Bucky, I’m dying. This is how you died so I know what to expect. I’ve been waiting 93 years for this.” Steve looked back at Bucky. “But don’t worry. We did good work. With Sam as Captain America, that left time for us to catch up and for you to worry about me as I went out to fight my way.”

“Steve,” Bucky tried to think of what they could possibly be doing that’s been good.

“Bucky, I have about 20 more minutes to explain to you that I never did get to tell you that I loved you. That we spent the rest of our years together as friends and nothing more. You left me a note before you died that said you loved me. We never got our shit together, so I thought if I can do something that will benefit both of us,” Steve’s eyes watered and Bucky’s did too. Did he really die never telling Steve he loved him? “Why not? The worst that can happen is what happened in my time.”

Bucky looked back to see Sam and Banner talking. “What do you think I was trying to do in Wakanda before the Outriders came?”

Steve laughed. “I’m blind to a lot of things, Buck. Natasha taught me that. I did get to see her when she was younger, but that’s a story for Steve to tell you when he can.”

Bucky looked down at his hands. “So, you’re saying I gotta make the first move.”

“Yeah I am.” Steve looks down at his watch. “I better clear out before I come back.”

They both stand up. Steve wraps his arms around Bucky, his frail body seeming eerily similar to his pre-serum self. “Bye, Steve.”

“Goodbye, Buck. I’ll see you in 10 minutes.”

They break apart and Steve pulls out the time watch. He syncs it and seeing his old body being wrapped up in the red and white his younger self had seems to hit Bucky harder than he thought. Tears started leaking out of his eyes against his will. Steve presses the button and he’s gone. 

Bucky walks back to Sam and Bruce. “Just wait 10 minutes and Steve will be back.”

Bruce lets out a long sigh. “I guess we can wait.” 

Sam pulls out his phone and sets a timer. “I’m going to go see if T’Challa and Shuri are still around. I’m going to need a suit.”

“You got this, Sam. We talked about it before all this.”

“Who? You’re goats?” 

Bucky pushes Sam towards the cabin where everyone had gathered a few weeks ago for the funeral. “Go get your new bird costume.”

“You son of a bitch! It’s not a bird costume!” Sam storms off to find Shuri and if not the actual person, then a phone to get in contact with her.

Bucky turns to Dr. Banner. “So when did all this happen?”

Bruce looks down at him. “The whole merging of both Hulk and Banner? A few years ago.”

“Oh that’s good.”

“Yeah.”

They stand around a bit longer. Bucky pulls out his own phone to check to see how long. 5 minutes. He opens his text messages and sees one from Shuri herself. 

‘Why is Sam looking for me?’

Bucky smirks to himself before replying.

He’s becoming the new Captain America. He needs a suit.

oh?

Yup. Rogers himself gifted him a shield not 20 minutes ago.

Is he keeping the wings? I can’t wait to design new ones. On that thought, you’re due for another arm.

Sounds good. Just set up an appointment with my secretary 

Bucky looks up as he hears the platform come to life. Banner already is behind the controls. “I can see him coming here. In 5…”

Bucky looks to the platform. He can see the lights flashing.

“3...2…”

The whirring of the machines stop as Steve steps off the platform. He has a black eye, a split lip, and a limp. The white and red suit dissolve back into the watch and the clothes underneath are drenched in blood. Bucky sprints to help him not collapse. Banner is already running towards the house to get help.

“Hey Buck.”

“Christ, Steve, what happened?” Bucky wraps his left arm around Steve and uses his right to feel for broken ribs.

“It’s a long story. I’ll tell you later.” Steve takes a shallow breath. “For now, let’s just say I fell off a cliff. But I did bring someone back.”

Bucky looks at him confused. “Who?”

Steve smiles through the blood and looks behind him. 

“Hello James.”


	2. Power

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm going to try and post once or twice a day because I have no life right now and I don't want to do my actual work.
> 
> -k

“Launch!”

Steve felt the familiar tug of going through the quantum realm. He sees the familiar colors fly by and before he knows it, he’s standing on Morag. He looks around at the desolate planet before making his way down to where Nebula said the temple will be. He sees where Rhodes and Nebula’s ship is. He keeps it in his peripheral so he can see when he needs to replace the power stone. 

As he passes by rocks and puddles, he hears the sound of a ship above him. He looks up in time to see a giant ship. That must be where Quill will be coming from. Steve ducks behind a taller pile of rocks and waits. How long will Rhodes and Nebula take? He peaks back around to see if he can see their ship still. It’s still there so he stays put for now. The temple is about 10 yards from him so he has plenty of time to run in and out before Quill shows up. There’s a buzzing sound accompanied by a bright blue light. Steve raises an arm to block it from his eyes and when it disappears he looks around to see if he can see Quill yet. Nebula’s ship is gone so he stands up to replace the stone, Mjolnir in one hand and the briefcase in the other. 

“Space…” Steve looks at the sky, the dark clouds blocking out whatever star gives this planet light. “Who would have thought…” 

Shaking his head, he walks towards the temple, moving out of the way of the smaller lizard-rat things crawling around. 

Just as he enters the doorway of the temple, he’s shoved to the side by something. The briefcase flies out of his hand as Mjolnir drops on the floor so Steve can catch his fall.

“Who sent you?!”

Steve looks around, wiping- is this water?- from his helmet to see a man standing over him with two blasters pointed at his head. Slowly, Steve raises his hands up. 

“I’m not asking again, douchebag!” 

“Quill?” Steve really should have been looking out for him, since he would be here. “Listen, Quill, I have what you’re looking for but I need to put it back where it was.”

“How do you know my name? And it’s Starlord!” Quill clicks his mask off so Steve moves to do the same, but Quill’s foot connects with his hand before he can click it. “Don’t move!”

“I’m just taking off my helmet, Peter.” Steve moves slower and is under Quill’s watchful eye as he unclicks it. “I have the stone. I just need to put it back in its case so you can take it.”  
“Okay, that sounds so fake right now. Dude, you have about 12 seconds before I blast your face off. Why are you here, really?”

Steve really did not have time for any of this. Well, technically he did but he’d rather not have to deal with this. “Listen, Quill, I don’t know where any of the other Guardians are if you have met them yet, but I am not from your reality! I’m trying to save yours right now and if I don’t put that stone back where we took it, you’re going to have a lot more problems than whoever you’re getting it for!”

“And why should I trust you? You’re the one who knocked me out!”

Knocked him out? What is he-

Rhodes and Nebula. Of course.

“I didn’t knock you out, my friends did. They’re already gone so you’re stuck with me, who came from their future.”

Quill tilts his head. “What type of crack are you smoking?”

Steve sighs. He’s going to pull the ‘I’m from the future’ card now, huh? “Quill, I know you were born in Missouri and raised by your mom, who died just before you were taken by a group of mercenaries. Your mom called you Starlord, which is very cute seeing as that’s what you’re known by where I’m from, too, and that you’re going to form your own team in the future because of what happens with this stone.”

Quill is staring at Steve in shock. Fantastic. Steve moves to stand before Quill starts moving again.

“Who are you?” Quill holsters one blaster to offer his hand to Steve. Steve takes it and brushes off his suit of the liquid.

“I’m from a different reality.” No one specifically told him he had to pretend he wasn’t from their reality. He doubted it would affect anything. “I needed to borrow the stone to save my reality.”

“Stone?” Quill looks down at the briefcase. “I’m here for the Orb, which is being protected in the temple.”

Steve grabs the briefcase and Mjolnir. “Oh, good to know. The stone is located in the Orb so I’ll put it back inside and give it to you before going to return the others. Lead the way, Starlord.”

Quill smiles. “Let’s get her done! You mind if I play my music?”

Steve really doesn’t understand this man’s fascination with music. “Go ahead.”

As some type of 80’s pop plays out of Quill’s device, Steve thinks about what Bucky told him. Could he really not live without a fight? He knows Ultron said something similar to taunt him into a fight but was it really true? Steve shakes his head. Of course it isn’t. He had the chance to fight all of the Hydra agents in the elevator when he was trying to get the Scepter and instead he whispered “Hail Hydra.” That’s living without a fight! Sure, he went and fought his past self right after, but what else was he supposed to do? 

“Hey, dude,” Quill nudges Steve’s shoulder, jostling him from his thoughts. “You never did tell me your name. You know, for someone who basically knows me, I don’t know you.”

Steve smirks. “You can call me Rogers. And you’ll learn more about me later. I don’t know how much I was supposed to tell you about the future you’ll be having, but I won’t change after I give you the stone- Orb. Whatever you called it.”

Quill kicks a lizard-rat across the courtyard they seem to be in. “Well, Rogers, we’re almost at the room where the Orb should be, so what are you going to do after this? Go back to your shop and fly back home?”

Steve looks down at the time watch. “Yeah something like that.” 

Quill nods as he stops in front of a dark room. The wind outside is growing louder and it seems to grow darker inside the temple. He pulls out a sphere from his bag and it lights up, illuminating the entire room. Steve looks around at the wall carvings, seeing a cluster of stones similar to how the Infinity Stones looked. 

“Rogers,” Steve turns back towards Quill. “The Orb should be here if I’m not mistaken.” 

Steve walks to the pillar with Quill and notices a metal sphere on the ground. He kneels down on the floor and opens his briefcase. The stone shine and Quill picks up the metal sphere. “So, which one belongs in this reality?”

Steve tries to remember how Dr. Strange told him to take the stones. “The purple one. But don’t touch them, they’ll most likely kill you instantly if you’re lucky.” 

He reaches out towards the power stone and it lifts from the case without touching his hand. He moves it into the metal Orb Quill is holding before shutting it. 

“There you go.” He closes the case and starts setting his watch for New York, 2012. “Now I’ll be on my way and you can be on yours.” Steve looks up after syncing the watch. “See you later, Starlord.”

“Later, Rogers. And thanks.”

“Drop it!” 

They both turn towards the doorway where a group of people- aliens, Rogers. Actual aliens- are storming into the room with blasters drawn. 

“Uh, hey.” Steve cannot believe this man right. Did he just say ‘uh, hey’ to a bunch of guys ready to fight him?

The leader of the group calls out some order and the soldiers following him make their way into the room to surround them. “Drop it, now!”

“Hey, cool, man!” the leader makes his way over Quill with his blaster raised. Quill drops the Orb as he’s surrounded by aliens with blasters. Steve is now also surrounded but he refuses to drop any of his things. 

“How do you know about this?” The leader asks. 

“I don’t even know what that is! I’m just a…” Quill looks over at Steve, who mouths out ‘traveler.’ “Junker, man. We’re just, chuh, uh checking stuff out!”

Steve shakes his head as the leader speaks again., “You don’t look like a junker. You’re wearing Ravenger garb!”

“It’s just an outfit, man!” the soldier behind him pokes him with the blaster. “Hey, Ninja Turtle, you better stop poking me-”

 

“What is your name!” the leader yells. The guards surround steve start pressing their blasters into his back.

“My name is Peter Quill, okay?! Dude, chill out!”

“Move!”

“Why?”

Steve looks over to Quill. “Quill!”

“Ronan may have questions for you.” the leader says, gesturing for the guards to push the two forward. 

“Hey, there’s another name you might know me by!”

Steve cannot believe this. Does this man ever shut up? The leader turns around before he can leave through the doorway. 

“Starlord.” Quill expects him to know, because if Rogers has heard of him then surely others must have.

“Who?” 

Quill looks defeated. “I’m Starlord, man, legendary outlaw.” He looks at the guards and to Steve, who is shaking his head. “Guys?”

“Move!” the leader yells again. 

“Aw, forget this.” Quill looks over to Steve. “Well, shit, what do we do now?” 

Steve looks around at all of them. “On 3.”

Quill nods. “3!” And takes one of his blasters and starts shooting. The leader yells out some command and the soldiers surrounding them open fire. 

“Not what I had in mind, Quill!” Steve throws Mjolnir at the nearest soldier and punches the next two that come after him. Mjolnir comes back to his summoning hand and he lifts it up and summons lightning, taking out a majority of the soldiers. “I have to go, they can’t get their hands on these!”

Quill shoots the leader in the chest. “Then go! I got this!”

“Get the case!” The leader yells from the floor. Quill shoots some of the soldiers closer to Steve as he makes his way towards the doorway. 

Steve grabs the briefcase and slams the button. The familiar pull of the quantum realm drags him from the fight. Colors explode across his vision and then he stops. He looks around to find his bearings. Yeah, this is New York. He looks over towards Stark tower, Chitauri still pouring out of the sky. Guess he came a bit early, but it’s fine. He still has adrenaline from the brief encounter on Morag. He dissolves the quantum suit and heads towards Stark tower. He’s got to return the scepter and make sure Hydra doesn’t see him as an asset.


	3. Battle of New York

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> listen i do what i want. i love Jessica Jones so much let me have this. thanks ily guys
> 
> -k

The streets of New York are normally crowded but here in Hell’s Kitchen, they’re filled with bodies of aliens and rubble. Trish was out on a business trip when the sky finally opened up and down came hundreds of thousands of goddamn lizards. Fantastic. She didn’t sign up for this but if she could use her powers to help people trapped under buildings then she might as well. 

“Ma’am!” Jessica Jones turns around to see a guy with a briefcase and- is that a hammer?- jogging towards her. “Excuse me, but shouldn’t you be evacuating the city?”

Jessica crosses her arms over her chest. “I’m not letting people die because the group of super-powered asshats aren’t here.”

Steve smiles. He sets Mjolnir on the ground and offers her his hand. “I’m Steve. Normally, I’d try to get to know you first before asking this but do you want to go kill some aliens?”

Jessica smirks and shakes his hand. “Weird first date, Steve, but I can work with that. Jessica Jones.”

“Whoever kills the most aliens picks the place.” Steve points towards an alleyway where Chitauri are pouring through. 

Jessica starts moving towards them. “Loser pays!” Steve takes one of the shrinking disks Scott gave him and shrinks the briefcase. He pockets it before running after Jessica to fight aliens. 

Jessica picks up a car and throws it at a passing flying chariot and uses one of the downed light poles as a bat. Steve swings Mjolnir at the nearby ones before he jumps to kick others that come behind him. They start shooting and he uses Mjolnir to hit some of the blasts. One of the Chitauri grabs hold of Jessica but she jumps back into one of the buildings to dislodge it from herself. She kicks another one across the street into the building.

“I count three, Jessica!” Steve jumps on one to snap its neck with his thighs. 

“I got three, Steve!” Jessica grabs one of them by the neck and punches a hole through its chest. “Make it four!”

“Help!” both of them turn to look at each other. “Up here! Please!”

Steve scans the building next to him and sees a group of people from the gaping hole in the top of the building. There are about 6 Chitauri inside with them herding them towards the edge. Steve nudges Jessica and points up to what seems to be the 20th floor. She looks up then back at Steve. 

“We have to do something.” Steve says, ready to fly up with Mjolnir, which will probably give away their position to his past self and the Avengers. 

Jessica lets out a quick breath and pulls Steve against herself. “If you throw up, bet’s over and you buy dinner.”

“What?”

And suddenly he’s in the air and landing next to the civilians. Jessica lands in a smooth squat while Steve somersaults into a stand. He throws Mjolnir at one of the Chitauri and punches the one closest to him. “Get down!” he throws the one he punched out the hole and catches Mjolnir. Jessica is herding a group of women and children towards the door when one of the Chitauri grabs her from behind. She kicks out at the wall for more traction before kicking the both of them through the opposite wall. Steve grabs a fallen Chitaurian blaster and starts shooting at the other 3 that are shooting towards him. He sees Loki fly past and time seems to slow as they make eye contact. Loki’s head tilts as he tries to place the blond man wielding his brother’s hammer. Steve holds his breath hoping that Loki doesn’t come back. 

“Steve!” Jessica yells as she throws the 5th Chitauri out the window and Steve comes back to the present to see the last one charging at him. He quickly tries to shoot it but it hits him in the chest and he’s falling out of the building. His breath is taken from him as throws his hand out to call Mjolnir but something catches him before he hits the ground and when he looks up, Loki has a hold on his arm. 

“The American Captain. What are you doing away from the main fight?” He asks as he pulls Steve onto the chariot he’s on. Steve catches Mjolnir as he looks back to where Jessica is looking out the building. He looks back to Loki who is smirking. 

“Listen, Loki, either you drop me off right here or I stop you myself.” He readies himself to jump off when Loki shakes his head. 

“Where do you come from? You don’t read from this reality.”

“I’m not from this reality.” If Loki can read that from him he guesses he can’t lie. “I’m waiting to return something to its exact time. I needed to borrow it.” He looks down at Mjolnir in his hand and tries not to look down at his pocket. If Loki gets all these stones then it’s over. 

Loki smirks and pulls his chariot to a stop and Steve releases the breath he didn’t know he was holding. “I can tell you are telling the truth. However, I do need you to hang onto my brother’s hammer long enough for me to win. Do that, and I’ll allow you to go.”

Steve nodded and gripped the handle hard. “I’ll take it with me when I leave.”

Loki smirks. “Good. Now, stop killing my soldiers as a form of flirtations to that woman. There are better things you could do than that.” 

Steve steps off of the chariot and Loki flies off back towards Stark tower. He stands there for a second before turning back and running towards Hell’s Kitchen. 

 

Jessica watches as Steve flies off towards the mess of Stark tower and looks back at the people who just watched her rip a head off an alien. That makes 7 for her. She’ll track down Steve after. First she needs to make sure these people get out of here. 

“We got to go. Now.” She starts herding the people towards the stairs, letting some of the men and women with makeshift weapons lead while she tries to calm one of the kids in the back of the pack. She leaves them at the stairwell, saying that she’ll meet them at the bottom before heading up to the roof of the building. She bursts through the door and walks towards the edge of the roof. She can see where policemen are stationed and making a blockade of the city. She can see an alien whale hit a building nearby and the rubble crash into some of the blockade. 

“Goddamn aliens.” She steps back and runs before jumping a block towards the blockade. She hits one of the flying chariots while she’s in the air. She lands in a squat and then jumps down from the roof of the building. She breaks the asphalt under her and uses pieces of it against the aliens that she startled. She kicks one and sends it flying through the building before punching another one. 

Steve is running past Times Square when one of the alien whales flies towards him. “Oh, shit.” He kicks the head of a nearby Chitauri, and looks towards the Chrysler building. Thor should be summoning lightning so once he does, Steve can summon his own to take down the whale. But for now, “Get out of the way! Go inside!” Steve picks up some children and rushes them inside one of the theatres close by with their parents running behind him. He can hear thunder rumbling so he runs back outside, hitting some of the Chitauri with Mjolnir along the way. He lifts the hammer in the air just as lightning is being summoned and forced down somewhere on 34th street. It’s not long before he can feel the electricity course through his body and he points Mjolnir towards the whale in the sky. It starts to scream and turn away from them, and Steve stops the lightning, instead seeing if he can send the hammer straight through it. He starts spinning Mjolnir until electricity crackles from it and sends it flying through the whale. The whale is seemingly dead now and its new projectile seems to be dying right on top of him and the hundreds of people around him. 

“Get inside! Get inside before it lands!” He calls Mjolnir and starts pushing people inside stores and theatres again. He runs and grabs an old man who was taking shelter behind some gates and runs into some candy shop just as the whale crashes into the ground. Once the ground stops shifting, he’s back outside trying to see if there is anyone underneath it. He gets to kill more of the ground soldiers as he looks, keeping count in case he runs into Jessica again. He starts down 44th and runs back to Hell’s Kitchen to see if Jessica is okay. Just as he’s passing 9th, the civilians around him start cheering. He looks up to see the portal close and can see the speck that is Tony Stark falling to Earth. That leaves him at least 15 minutes before his other past self comes. He needs to make his way over to stark tomorrow now or else he won’t make it. He starts running back towards Park Avenue, hammer in one hand and a blaster in the other. 

“Steve?” He stops and sees Jessica standing in a doorway to some restaurant with a group of civilians. “You made it!”

“Somehow.” He walks over and gives her a side hug. “Listen, I'm going to need some help with something. Want to join?”

“Sure, but you’re buying dinner tonight. I got 38.”

Steve lets out a laugh. “I got 30. But I downed one of those whale things which makes it at least 50.”

Jessica stares at him. “How?!”

He smirks. “I’ll tell you over dinner. C’mon we gotta go.” He starts jogging again. Jessica sprints to catch up.

“What are we even doing?”

“To make a long story short, I need to return something back to where I took it.” Steve slows down so Jessica can catch up. “But that means sneaking into Stark tower and trying not to get caught by SHIELD. Sound up for it?” Steve feels his feet lift from the ground as Jessica drags him to a stop by his shirt. 

“The hell do you mean ‘not get caught by SHIELD?’ Steve, what the hell did you take?”

Steve sighs. “It’s a long story. But you need to trust me on this.”

Jessica shakes her head. “Steve, I can’t caught by SHIELD if things go south. I don’t know if you know this, but I don’t take kindly to authority.”

Steve smiles. “I won’t let you get caught by SHIELD. I promise.”

“Steve, I don’t know if I can trust you. I don’t know anything about you.”

Steve sighs again. He looks around the debris caused by the battle. He’s 0 for 2 in terms of not pulling the future card. “Look, Jessica, I’m giving you the choice of backing out after hearing me out.”

“Steve, I can damn well back out whenever I want.”

He raises his hands in surrender. “You’re right. But I still wanted to offer.”

Jessica crosses her arms over her chest. 

“Alright, well, I’m from a different reality- technically speaking, I’m from the future. And to stop a bigger threat from happening, me and the Avengers had to go back in time and borrow Infinity Stones to stop it. But we need to return them back to the exact time we took them or else we leave worse alternate realities open. So, that’s why I’m here.”

Jessica stares at him for a minute. “So, you’re Steve Rogers from the future? As in, Captain America?”

“Yes.” Steve’s shoulders sag. He would really need her help distracting his past self but he’ll find a way to do it himself. 

Jessica looks at him for a few seconds. “You’re still buying me dinner, though, right? Or will you go back to your reality to skip out on paying for me? Because I don’t believe you really took down one of those whale things.”

Steve smiles as Jessica smirks. “Let’s get going, then.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey guys
> 
>  
> 
> uhhh im super jammed packed with life (im moving back to the west coast) so sorry about not posting chapters. let's say a chapter a week? starting next week? thanks guys [updated 5/5/19]
> 
> -k <3


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi it’s me tee hee life got the better of me. My job took a lot out of me over the summer so I basically wrote this chapter and refused to post it. I’ll be better now about it and thanks to my friend who posted the chapter for me (bananas_are_good_9) 
> 
> Can we say idk a chapter a month? I have everything planned out I just need to freaking write it. I’m now in school again so hopefully my classes won’t take over all my time like my job did. Thanks ily
> 
> -k   
> (8/30/2019 just so y’all can keep me on track for September)

Steve lowers himself behind a car in front of the Stark Tower entrance as Jessica follows suit. Military personnel run by, trying to protect the higher-ups from the debris of the falling buildings.

 

“So, do you actually have a plan to return the stone?” Jessica whispers. 

 

Steve looks back at her. “I always have a plan.”

 

Jessica shakes her head. “Steve, that’s not what someone who has a plan sounds like.”

 

Steve lets out a small huff of breath. “I have part of a plan. There’s two stones I need to return to this timeline. I’m going to go back in time now and hopefully reappear here in a couple seconds with a solid plan. If not, feel free to punch me in the face.” 

 

“What? I thought you said one!”

 

“Not that I’m trying to make up an excuse, but I was busy trying not to die.”

 

“Congratulations on that. Now we can die returning the damn space rock and time gem because SHIELD is all over the tower!”

 

“Well, technically I need to return the mind and time stone. The time stone needs to go to Greenwich and the mind stone needs to go to Stark tower. The Space Stone goes back to the 70’s.” 

 

“You mean to tell me you passed by Greenwich and didn’t stop to think ‘Hey, I could return this now?’”

 

Steve tilts his head and sets his jaw. “I could have but I didn’t think about.” Jessica shoves Steve away from her and sighs. “I was taking down a whale! A whale, Jess!” 

 

“Steve, get on with it. Go put back the stone and figure out a plan. Meanwhile, I’m going to go see if I can go steal a uniform to get inside.”

 

Steve syncs his watch. “See you in a few seconds, Jones.”

 

“Yeah, yeah, get going, Rogers.”

 

Steve presses the button and lands back between the ally near Central Park. He heads down 8th avenue towards Times Square. He can’t run into his past self, so he stays near the buildings instead of running down the center of the street. He takes out some more Chitauri along the way and after about 40 minutes of mindless Chitauri-killing, he runs down Bleecker. His first mistake was not looking where he was going, his second was lashing out and hitting Natasha in the stomach with Mjolnir. 

 

“Oh my god, Nat?!’ he drops the hammer and tries to block his face after realizing what he said. “I’m so sorry!”

 

Natasha stands back up from where she fell. “It’s alright. What’s your name?”

 

Steve turns around, fully aware that Natasha has already seen his face and is putting the pieces together. He can pull this off. He can see Natasha later and hopefully get her back when returning the soul stone. “Uh, Roger. Roger Stevens, miss.” He can hear Bucky’s voice saying something like  _ Smooth, Rogers. She’ll never expect anything from that. _ “Um, I’ll be on my way now-” 

 

Steve couldn’t see Natasha jump up and strangle him with her thighs until it already happened. He immediately shoved his hand up between her thighs and his neck and pushed her thighs off him. She stings him with her widow bites in his ribs and Steve grabs her wrist before she can twist her body to choke him again. 

 

“Natasha, it’s me!” Steve backs up to the gates of the playground.

 

“See, I have a hard time believing that, Loki.” Natasha shoots tiny bites out of her wrist and Steve has to flip over the gates to avoid them. That gave Natasha enough time to rush him again. 

 

“Nat! It’s me!” Steve blocks one of her punches before remembering the move she taught him long ago. He kicks her back a couple feet before launching himself into her arms. He knocks her off guard for a second before she slides out from under him and pins one of Steve’s wrists with her foot and digs her other knee into his shoulder joint. 

 

She readies another Widow Bite. “Loki, surrender now.” 

 

Steve tries to catch his breath. “Nat, I’m not Loki!”

 

“Oh yeah? I just left the real Captain America, who is in Chelsea, to come over here. Why don’t you remove the facade, Loki, hmm? It would hurt less.” The Widow Bites make an electric whirl as her finger hovers over the trigger.

 

“Natasha! It’s me! I’m not from your reality, I’m from the future.” Steve tries to overpower her and gets a Widow Bite into his neck for his troubles which hurts like a bitch. “You know, you should ask Tony to amplify those sooner rather than later because they’re just annoying me now.”

 

That was the wrong thing to say because as soon as he finishes speaking, Natasha presses the heel of her palm into his throat before charging up the Bites on her other hand. 

 

“I beat you once and I can do it again. I won’t hold back this time either.”

 

Steve turned his head and saw Mjolnir a couple feet away. He looks back to Natasha’s face before summoning it. “Sorry, Nat, I have a mission, you understand?”

 

Mjolnir hits his palm and he summons lightning. Natasha jumps off due to the electricity coursing over him and he kicks her over the playground gate and sprints down Bleecker again. He can hear Nat’s shout of vexation before the crackling of electricity is soaring into his back. He slows enough to rip it from his back and throw it at nearby Chitauri soldiers. However, he didn’t plan on Natasha actually being able to catch up to him. Natasha gets a foot to the back of his knee to slow him down enough to take him down again. She’s able to twist back up to choke him again and Steve falls on his back with Natasha’s knee pressing into his throat. He tries to throw her off but she stuns him with multiple Widow Bites. Natasha is looking down at him in confusion now but he can’t move, let alone  _ breathe _ . 

 

“Why haven’t you changed back?” She lifts her knee down to his clavicle and he tries to take a deep breath in. “Who are you?”

 

“Steven Rogers!” A feminine voice calls out. Both Natasha and Steve turn to look at a woman with a shaved head and weird orange clothes. She holds her hands out and makes a circle with one and bright orange lights start sparking out of her hand. She’s a sorcerer like Strange, then. Steve looks back at Natasha and quickly shoved her to one side and starts running towards this woman. 

 

“That’s me!” He says as he scoops up Mjölnir a few feet away from the woman. 

 

Natasha recovered quickly and is right in his tail until a portal opens up in front of her, leading her back to Central Park. It closes behind her and Steve stops next to this woman, who smiles at him before opening another portal that leads inside some house. 

 

“Do you know Dr. Strange, then?” Steve asks her. She looks at him and smiles. 

 

“I will. Follow me.”

 

Steve watches as she walks through before quickly following suit. She must be who Banner got the Time stone from. He steps through and turns around to find the woman standing by a set of stairs. He walks by glass boxes holding various items- swords, axes, a cape, and some tapestry. 

 

“Are you the Ancient One?” He asks. His hand goes to his jean pocket where the shrunken box of infinity stones rests. 

 

“Yes, and you have something for me. Don’t you?” She starts waving her hands and the necklace she wears opens. 

 

“That I do.” Steve says as he sets Mjolnir on the table and takes out the shrunken case. He pulls out a growth disk from the watch and resizes the case to normal size. The Ancient One goes to stand next to him as he opens the case. “I also had a few questions for you while I’m here.”

 

The Ancient One floats the stone back into the necklace as she looks at Steve. “What type of questions would you have for me?”

 

Steve closed the case. “I have to return a scepter that contains the Mind Stone but the whole plan we had created a mess. I need help fixing it to how it was before we came to get the stones.” He looks towards her. “I have part of a plan and another person who can help but I need to work the kinks out of it.”

 

“And why would I help you? I need to protect the Sanctum.” She spins and creates a portal to the roof. Steve follows her through.

 

“Well, we may or may not have lost a stone the last time we were here.” He turns and kicks a Chitauri off the roof as soon as it lands. The Ancient One sighs as she creates a shield in front of a flying chariot.

 

“How?” 

 

“Well, Stark…” Steve pauses. “Stark, he, uh, didn’t plan on the Hulk barging through the door and Loki, the god that’s leading this, he took the tesseract which holds the space stone.”

 

The Ancient One gives Steve a once over. “And how do I fit into this? I cannot leave the Sanctum unguarded, Captain.”

 

“Is there anyway for me to change my appearance? Maybe if we act like Loki took the tesseract then we can-” 

 

“Captain.”

 

Steve shuts up. He looks at her and sees her resigned face. 

 

“As much as I would like to help you, I cannot. You must figure out yourself how you’re going to solve this. It was not my choice to make and I won’t make it for you.”

 

“But you won’t be making it for me, ma’am. I just need some guidance-“

 

“Guidance is not what you seek. You want me to reassure you that what you have planned would work. I can’t give you that. Nor do I have any advice on what you should do.” She looks at Steve’s shocked face. “Captain, arrogance is not befitting for a man of your reputation. Others may not be able to see it now, but you will. And once you do, I’ll be here to assist you.”

 

Steve stands still, mouth gaping open in shock. The Ancient One opens a portal that leads to the top of a building. “Let’s call this a parting gift. Step through, Captain Rogers. You can figure out another way, can’t you, Master Strategist?” 

 

Steve sets his shoulders. “Where is this leading to?”

 

“A Plan B.”

 

Steve looks at the Ancient One for a second longer before turning his back on her. “I hope you realize your mistake sooner rather than later. Your help would be appreciated.”

 

He steps through and she smiles. “I very much doubt that, Captain.” 

 

The portal closes with a scatter of sparks and Steve looks around. Plan B? 

 

“Well, it seems we are in a predicament, Captain.”

 

Steve startles into a defensive position and spots Loki sitting on the ledge with his scepter in hand. Plan B. “Son of a bitch.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Hacked" (with permission) by bananas_are_good_9 so y'all could get this chapter :)


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